The present invention relates to a vehicle for use as an airplane, and as an automobile, more particularly, an airplane with canard type wings and an engine for driving a propeller where the wings fold and the engine drives a transmission and drive shaft when the vehicle is converted to an automobile.
There have been several attempts to provide an aircraft which converts to an automobile. What is apparent about all of these vehicles is that the wings are either removed or folded in some fashion so that the converted automobile will conform to an eight foot road lane. Two main methods for folding the wings which are important upon considering the present invention are: those wings which fold against the sides of the fuselage, and those which pivot into or are stored under the airplane body. My invention has wings that are just re-adjusted to be used in both, flying and driving modes. In the first situation, the wings are pivoted from the horizontal plane to the vertical and pivoted vertically against the sides of the fuselage, either by pivoting forward or backward. In the second situation, the wings are pivoted about vertical planes to tuck the wings either into compartements in the fuselage or under it. There are several U.S. patents which show both methods for wing movements. A list of these and other U.S. patents known to the inventor can be found in the inventor's statement.
U.S. patents which are important to one or more features of the present invention include the following:
U.S. patent Re 25,368 RETHORST PA1 U.S. patent 2,539,489 SMITH PA1 U.S. patent 3,056,564 ZUCK PA1 U.S. patent 3,065,927 MILLS
The folding wings in Mills, U.S. Pat. No. 3,065,927, are similar to the wings of the present invention and yet there are differences. The Mills wings are hinged to fold flat on the top of the automobile. Each wing has two sections, one of which forms the wing tip and folds on the other section, and the other section is hinged to the vehicle body to fold into a recess in the roof. There are two differences between the Mills wings and the present invention; first, the Mills wings each have two sections, and the second, in the present invention, the wings fold one on the other. These also fold to uselessness, while mine are used for driving.
The Reissue patent to Rethorst, Re 25,368 and the patent to Zuck, 3,056,564, show convertible airplanes to automobiles with foldable wings and engines which drive both the propeller of the airplane and the rear wheels of the automobile. In Zuck, a single engine drives either the propeller or the wheels. Separate drive shafts operate the propeller and the wheels with engaging mechanisms to either operate one or the other drive shafts. The propeller is mounted at the rear of the airplane to push the airplane forward similar to the present invention. The wings in the Zuck patent pivot about a vertical plane to a position either under or over the fuselage.
The Rethorst patent, Re 25,368 shows a pair of engines for driving a pair of propellers and a single drive shaft for driving the rear wheels. The wings pivot horizontally into a compartment in the fuselage and the tail sections pivot onto the top of the fuselage, again into uselessness.
The pivotally wings of Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 2,539,489, pivot into a compartment in the fuselage, once again into uselessness. A pair of pins hold the wings in the flying position.